Valentine's Day Fluff Binge
by Microsuede Mouse
Summary: I wanted to write some Jassandra fluff for Valentine's Day and asked tumblr for prompts. I was obliged. Each chapter a separate prompt. Some are AUs; not all are directly Valentine's-related.
1. Movies

This chapter comes from "Cassandra talks Stone into a movie night since neither have dates" submitted by the lovely justlook3! If you have an idea for me hit me up at mouseintheannex on tumblr. I'll keep taking Valentine's Day prompts through Monday although there is a chance that if I get a lot they won't all be done by the 14th, haha. (Any leftovers would be posted soon after though!)

[cross-posted to AO3]

* * *

Jacob slipped quietly into Cassandra's lab and hoisted himself up to sit on the counter. She barely glanced up from her work; it wasn't unusual for him to come in to visit, but he didn't usually mind if she kept at what she was doing. She didn't want to lose her train of thought as she wrote out equations across the length of a whiteboard. He waited patiently until she seemed to be done.

"Gotta question for ya," he asked as she stood back to read over what she'd written.

"Shoot," she told him slowly, dragging her gaze away from her math and swinging around to face him.

"Ezekiel been braggin' to you about his hot date, too?"

Cassandra snorted. "Yeah, he hasn't shut up about it."

"Right," Jacob answered with a nod. "But has he mentioned who his date _is?_ "

"Nope," she admitted, pausing to think. "No, not even once."

"Yeah. Exactly. He's bein' so mysterious about it I'm not sure he ain't makin' the whole thing up."

She laughed. "You think Ezekiel can't get himself a Valentine's date? I dunno, he's pretty cute," she teased.

Jacob gave her a dirty look, but not without a little amusement. "Now don't you tell me you've gone soft for all that Aussie charm he thinks he has."

She laughed again, coming to lean her elbows on the counter next to where he sat. "Hardly." Grinning, she rested her chin in her hands. "When I think about it, though, he _is_ being awfully vague. Won't tell us who it is, where he's going, anything. Just keeps loudly reminding everyone he's got a hot date."

"Wouldn't it be just like him to make something like that up just to mess with us?" Jacob asked.

Cassandra drummed her fingers against her cheek for a moment, then shook her head. "Nah. He doesn't lie, remember? I do actually think that's pretty true. I think it'd be just like Ezekiel to _have_ a date but then make it _sound_ like he's making things up, just to leave all of us wondering."

It was his turn to laugh. "Kid's a weasel," he muttered, shaking his head. Clearly he still couldn't decide.

Cassandra smiled and tipped her head to one side to look up at him. "So what about you?" she asked.

"Hm?" He glanced down at her. "What _about_ me?"

"Ezekiel's got a hot date, or something, Eve and Flynn didn't even come _into_ work today, Jenkins has made himself scarce in the large collections annex – you have any Valentine's plans?" She tucked a curl behind her ear and looked at him expectantly.

He stared at her for a fraction of a second before shaking his head, half in answer and half to free himself from his momentary hypnosis. "Nah," he said. "Nah, my only date's with a stack o' books I've been neglectin'. How about you?" He glanced at her sidelong.

"My plans are with the Library theatre, a bag of cinnamon hearts, and a bunch of movies. A date with myself, if you will." She paused, looking at him thoughtfully. "Although, I wouldn't say _no_ to some company."

"What?" Jacob asked. "Me? Nah, like I said, got readin' to catch up on. 'Sides, I'm not really much one for Valentine's Day type movies-"

"I've listened to you recite romantic Shakespearean sonnets, Jacob, so don't you even start," Cassandra laughed, straightening up. She turned and hopped up onto the counter next to him. "But I'm not necessarily watching any 'Valentine's Day type movies' anyway! C'mon, you should join me. You can pick. Ezekiel's been trying to help me fill the gaping holes in my pop culture knowledge, but I'm sure you must have a few recommendations that he wouldn't think of!" She bumped his shoulder playfully.

"I dunno, Cassie," he answered, part genuine reluctance and part teasing. "Sounds like you had such a nice date with yourself planned. I wouldn't wanna be a third wheel. Second wheel?" He rubbed his chin, exaggeratedly pretending to think about that.

"Oh, no, don't worry," she assured him with a giggle. "I already spoke to me, and I said I wouldn't mind at all."

He snorted and glanced down at the floor, still waffling. "I was really lookin' forward to those books, though. Things've been so busy lately, I haven't had much time for 'em at all. And even when we have a little downtime, Ezekiel's always runnin' around makin' noise."

"I know a great reading nook he's never found," Cassandra offered in the most tempting voice she could muster. "I'll show you tomorrow. But come on, it'd be so nice to have your company tonight. We haven't hung out in ages, especially off-case!"

Jacob sighed and looked over at her again, and she was smiling and giving him just a _little_ dose of her puppy-dog eyes, and he couldn't help it. Cracking a smile and shaking his head, he asked, "How big a bag of cinnamon hearts?"

x

It was late, and Jacob and Cassandra were most of three movies into Clint Eastwood's filmography. ("He's not really an especially likeable person, if y'ask me," Jacob had explained, "but that doesn't mean the man hasn't made some _fantastic_ movies.") They'd started around maybe six or so, after Ezekiel had finally dipped out after talking for a good five minutes or more about how great his date was going to be without offering any further details. They'd long since finished the cinnamon hearts; they'd managed to throw together some sandwiches for dinner and, digging around the Annex kitchen for a few minutes, put together an array of unfinished potato chips, miscellaneous candy, and the doughnuts still left from yesterday's bakery run as their after-dinner movie snacks. Cassandra had snagged her favourite blanket from the reading room to toss over their legs where they sat on the Library theatre's comfy seating.

Jacob glanced at the time during a quiet scene and laughed briefly at himself. "It's past midnight," he murmured when Cassandra glanced up questioningly. "Took me by surprise somehow."

"I'm not tired," she assured him with a little grin.

"Not tired? You've been leanin' on my shoulder for the last half o' the movie, Cassie," he teased her.

"Not because I'm tired!" she insisted. "It's just because your shoulder's so comfy, and you weren't complaining, so…"

He watched her for a moment in the dim light, a bemused look on his face. She watched him back curiously, and after a few seconds she asked, "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothin'," he answered, turning his attention back to the film.

"What?" she nudged him with her shoulder. "Come on."

"Nothin'," he repeated. "Pay attention to the movie."

"No, I can't now! You have to tell me or I'll be all distracted wondering about it and I won't be able to appreciate the movie."

He glanced back down at her from the corner of his eye, cocking an eyebrow. As he suspected, she was grinning; she knew he wouldn't leave her hanging if it stopped her from watching. "You know how to charm a guy, is all. Or swindle him, dependin' on the perspective. Tellin' him it's not a date and then gettin' all cuddly."

"I don't think I ever specifically said this wasn't a date," she pointed out. "I called it a date with myself and then I invited you along. Pretty sure I never once said it _wasn't_ a date."

Jacob couldn't help looking a little amused. "You implied."

"Well, I didn't mean it to be a date anyway, so good," she answered, and settled into his shoulder to return her attention to the screen. He leaned his head back for a moment, wondering where that whole roundabout little conversation left them, then gave a little sigh and looked back at the movie.

Only a few minutes later, Cassandra spoke again, this time not looking up. Still resting comfortably against him, she asked, "So do you feel charmed or swindled?"

He hesitated a moment, wondering the best way to answer, but eventually he smiled to himself. "Charmed."

Now she looked up again, smiling too. "You don't mind the cuddling then?"

He lifted an eyebrow again. "Cassie, I gotta ask, _is_ this a date? Or am I just a friendly, obligin' pillow?"

She looked back away, her hair hiding her face from his view. "Well I only _meant_ for the latter, I swear."

"But?"

"But I've been leaning on your left side for almost an hour and I can feel your heart still pounding since this conversation started and I'm kind of hoping you wouldn't mind if it became the former too?" she answered, the second half of the sentence coming out increasingly quickly.

He tipped his head to one side, considering her. "I do have a couple concerns," he admitted.

She frowned. "What are they?" she asked, tensing to pull away from him if need be.

"Well, one is that we've missed most of the last ten minutes of this movie by now, and if I say yes somethin' tells me we won't be payin' much attention to the rest of it either," Jacob answered. "The other is the whole Valentine's Day thing. First date on Valentine's Day, first kiss on Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day confessions of love – such a cliché. Never was a big fan of all that." His left arm was still hanging loosely around her shoulders, and with his fingertips he began to trace little circles against her upper arm through the fabric of her sleeve as he talked.

By now she was looking up at him again, beaming, as he made a show of looking nonchalantly in the other direction. "First kiss, huh?"

"Oh yeah. Has that never come up before? I've always been a kiss-on-the-first-date kinda guy."

Cassandra pulled away from him just enough to twist her body around in the seat so she was facing him better. Legs tucked underneath her now, she leaned forward a bit. "Well, lucky for you," she told him, grinning, "it's not Valentine's Day any more. As you so kindly pointed out a few minutes ago, it's past midnight."

"Oh, y'know, that's true!" he agreed, finally turning to face her, a little grin still on his face. He wasn't quite done teasing her. "You think that cou-?"

"It counts." She cut him off by kissing him, a smile still on her lips as she did so. He responded in kind, letting one hand find its way into her hair as hers landed on his shoulders. When she finally pulled back, they were both still smiling. "Oh. Hello," he said as she bumped her nose against his.

"We definitely should have paused the movie," she laughed.

"Better late than never," he agreed, peering over her shoulder as he pawed around for the remote, finding it somewhere next to his knees. "Very convenient havin' a movie theatre with that option."

Cassandra nodded. "So you said something about confessions of love, too," she reminded him, raising her eyebrows.

Jacob laughed. "One thing at a time, Cassie," he told her, cupping his hand against one side of her jaw and pulling her back in to kiss him again.


	2. Smells

This one comes from the anonymous prompt, "I love the way you smell when you're hugging me." Short and sweet; I love it. Cheers.

* * *

Cassandra stumbled through the Back Door and into the Annex looking for all the world like she'd been going nonstop for a week. She heaved a deep sigh as Jake, the only other person in the Annex just that moment, got out of his seat to approach her.

"You okay?" he asked, concerned. "Ya look like death warmed over, kid. What even happened?"

"Ugh, I'll tell you later," she moaned. "I'm exhausted." She seemed to sway on her feet and Jake stepped forward, letting her lean on his chest as he put his arms around her shoulders. She tossed her arms weakly around his back, letting out another long sigh as she rested against him for a moment.

He rubbed her back gently as she leaned on him for a few moments. Breathing slowly and deeply, she couldn't help noticing how good Jake smelled. Clean laundry, deodorant that smelled a little pine-esque (inasmuch as any deodorant managed to smell like pine), old books; a general, warm sense of Jakeness. She'd never been great at picking out the individual scents that added up to a person. What she did know, however, was that when her senses crossed a whole variety of things jumped to mind in association with Jake's smell.

Tiredly, she murmured, "You smell great."

"Hm?"

Cassandra shifted her face out of his chest a bit so he could hear her better. "You smell great," she repeated, louder.

"Oh. Thank you," he answered with a little smile. She leaned back into him, reluctant now to let go. He didn't hug her that often, but it was just so full of good feelings and memories that she didn't want it to end. After a few more moments, he teased gently, "You must be more tired than I realized. Should I get you to a sofa?"

Shaking her head against him, she said, "Don't wanna. Comfy here." Tongue loosened by fatigue and relief and the overall positive feelings she got when he held her, she continued, "You smell like waking up late after sleeping in on the weekend, and like pancakes for dinner in the Annex kitchen with the whole team. Like a whole day of quiet research on exciting personal projects, and curling up in a sunny reading room window seat with an old favourite book. Like eating chocolate on a rainy day. Cozy fireplaces and the warm colours of the brickwork lit by the flames. An old gramophone quietly playing _The Waltz of the Flowers_. Cinnamon toast."

"Oh," Jake repeated in surprise, resting his head on top of hers as he hugged her with renewed care. "Well. That must be the kindest description o' me I ever heard. I'll hug you anytime you like, Cassie." He felt her cheek move against his chest as she smiled.

He stared into space over her head for another few moments as he mulled over everything she'd said. That she had so many positive associations attached to him was overwhelmingly flattering. He didn't quite know what to do with the information. But for now, she was just about collapsing on him, and he could only stand there holding her up for so long. "What if I go _with you_ to a sofa?" he asked slowly.

Cassandra nodded sleepily. "That sounds nice."

"Okay. Lemme grab my book."


	3. New Traditions

From rogueprincessdanie's prompt, "Cassandra has had alot of bad valentine's days and Jake takes it upon himself to change that." Got a little carried away with this one but I like it!

It's based part in knowledge I already had and part in research - but that said, there's only so much research I'm doing for a single fanfic oneshot. :P I've never been to Rome, and may have taken a couple liberties, particularly with the basilica. Hope you don't mind.

* * *

The week or so leading up to Valentine's Day had, for the most part, been fairly quiet around the Library. Since being restored to a state of wholeness, the Library had taken to decorating itself for the holidays, which Flynn insisted it had always done before as well. What was interesting, though, was that Ray seemed to know how Cassandra felt about holidays, so he always left the Annex undecorated, instead leaving a box of decorations out for her to hang up herself.

The Valentine's decorations had shown up on the table on the third. They spotted it when they were coming through the Back Door after a very long day in Greenland; everyone was bone-tired. It wasn't entirely a surprise that Cassandra didn't dive for the box immediately, or even the next day. They all needed a little time to recover.

Jake watched for a few days as the box continued to go ignored. At first he assumed it was due to her being tired and busy, then she got herself even more engrossed than usual in a project and he figured she was just distracted. But by the seventh he was really starting to wonder. Only a week left and she hadn't touched the decorations at all? Hadn't even mentioned the upcoming holiday? That was distinctly unusual.

"Hey, Cassie, how's it goin' over here?" he asked her casually one day, leaning on the back edge of the desk she'd adopted. "You've been awful wrapped up in whatever it is you're workin' on."

"Hm?" She glanced up at him in surprise. "Oh, yeah, I guess I have. Jenkins recommended me a few books on Atlantean science and they've been hard to put down. So many interesting threads to follow."

"Sounds just up your alley," he said with a nod. "So, hey, I've been wonderin'. You want a hand with those decorations? Seems like you've been reluctant to leave your work, so I thought maybe an extra set o' hands would help you take care of 'em faster and you can get back to your readin' sooner." He jabbed a thumb toward the box where it sat under the big table now, shifted out of the way when someone was spreading out some maps.

"Oh." Cassandra fidgeted awkwardly with her pencil for a moment, glancing down at her desk. "Well, um, I wasn't actually planning on decorating, to be honest."

"What? No way. That still our Cassie?" Teasingly, he put a hand to her forehead. "Skippin' a holiday? One all about love and good feelin's, no less?"

She smiled sheepishly as he took his hand away. "Yeah, I just, um… I'm not that big a fan of Valentine's Day any more. Never quite been a successful holiday for me. At some point I figured I'd just cut my losses and skip it from now on."

Jake glanced around for a minute and grabbed the nearest chair, dragging it over so that he could sit opposite her, elbows on her desk. Leaning forward, he asked, "How does a girl as upbeat and full o' life as you come to dislike Valentine's Day?"

She glanced down at her work again, feeling a little strange trying to explain it, but he didn't always ask her so directly about her life, and she knew from experience that when he did he was always a good listener. "Well, you know, when I was a little kid, it was fun. Exchanging Valentines with all my classmates was so exciting to me, even if I had to make my own out of notebook paper because my parents never wanted to buy the ones in the store. But after a while I realized that other kids celebrated at home too, not just at school – they got gifts from their parents and saw other people in their lives doing things for Valentine's. My parents never got me anything; as far as I could tell they never got _each other_ anything either. As I got older it just got worse. Not once but _twice_ in high school I was rejected by someone I liked on or around Valentine's Day, the first time for being a nerd and the second because she decided she didn't like girls after all." Staring down at the desk, Cassandra scribbled circles in the corner of her open notebook. "Even after high school it never got better. Mostly just feeling lonely in the face of everything around me, you know? It was hard to have a real, lasting romantic relationship given the… circumstances of the last half of my life." With her pencil she gestured vaguely at her head. "One year I did get asked out for a Valentine's date, but he got cold feet when someone mentioned the tumor to him, which honestly I had thought he already _knew_ about since we _worked_ together, but apparently not." She took a deep breath and then shot him another awkward smile. "I'm sorry. I just… yeah. My history with Valentine's Day hasn't been all that great."

"Damn, Cassie." Leaning back in his chair, Jake knocked one fist against her desk. "Well, I can't blame you for not bein' such a fan anymore. You deserve better than that."

"It's okay though!" she assured him. "Usually I just spend the evening with myself and some snacks and whatever TV show I'm watching at the moment. I've learned not to dwell on it."

"That's good," he said with a nod. "Best not to stew over these things." He glanced at the box on the floor again. "You want me to put that away?"

She smiled, this time without embarrassment. "That'd be great. Thanks for understanding, Jake. I appreciate it." Still a little self-conscious, she ran a hand back through her hair.

"Any time," he answered with a reassuring smile. He got up and hoisted the box off the floor, turning out of the Annex into the hallway.

It was a bit of a hike to the storage room where the decorations were usually kept, and as he walked, Jake thought. He had told her not to stew, but her story was weighing on him now. He hated the idea that a holiday he'd figured had _Cassandra_ written all over it had been so thoroughly ruined for her. He'd meant it when he said she deserved better.

In the storage room he heaved the box onto an empty space on a hip-high shelf, then reached under the half-open flap and toyed with a garland of paper hearts. It was cheesy, but he wouldn't have minded it that much if Cassie had strung it up across the Annex. He expected that kind of thing from her. In fact, the more he thought about it, the sadder he was, knowing these decorations would stay tucked away in a box.

He stood idly for a few minutes, one hand still inside the box, deep in thought. Eventually he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, having come to a decision.

x

When Cassie strolled into the Annex early on the thirteenth, it was hard to miss the decorations. She wondered if Ray had decided to put them up himself after she chose not to. Strings of paper hearts criss-crossed the railings, and pink and red paper honeycomb balls hung from the ceiling even in the hallway. Vases of flowers were placed around the Annex in out-of-the-way corners where they were visible, but not likely to knock over in the usual Library hubbub.

She had to admit it was pretty, even if she wasn't a big Valentine's fan.

She'd assumed she'd be the first in that morning – usually when she arrived at that hour she was – but when she got to her desk she found a fresh breakfast muffin sitting on top of a piece of note paper. The muffin was her favourite kind; she smiled as she bit into it – it was still warm. Picking up the paper, she recognized Jacob's handwriting. _Morning! Could really use you today. Grab your jacket and meet me?_ Almost as an afterthought, a set of coordinates was scribbled underneath, with the note, _Just in case someone else uses the Back Door between us._

At a glance she knew the coordinates were somewhere in Italy. With a little more thought she could have figured out much more specifically where they led, but instead she shrugged her jacket back on, tucked the note in her pocket, tossed her bag over her shoulder, and headed for the Back Door, muffin still in hand. She glanced at the globe and saw it was still set to wherever Jake had gone, so she popped through and stumbled out into a crooked alleyway paved with cobblestone. The air was chilly but not unpleasant. She followed the alley into a bigger street and, with a smile, recognized Rome. That meant it was around 4:30 in the afternoon.

"I really like that coat." Cassandra looked to her left and saw Jake approaching her from the patio of a small café only a couple doors down. "Very seasonal." She glanced down out of habit at her red woolen pea coat and rolled her eyes.

"It's warm, too," she laughed. "That's more my priority. Thanks for the muffin."

"No problem," he answered with a smile. "I know you don't always eat before you come into work, and I wanted to make sure you had somethin' before you joined me."

"So what are we up to in Rome?" she asked, falling into step next to him as he began to stroll down the sidewalk.

"I wanted to show you somethin'," Jake told her. "C'mon, it's not a long walk. Whatever Jenkins did to the Back Door the other day, it's really workin'. We got pretty close to our destination."

She wondered why he was being vague, but if it wasn't a long walk she didn't see the harm in enjoying the cool afternoon. They walked side-by-side, elbows bumping, quiet while she finished her muffin. The silence was comfortable. After they rounded a few corners, Jake finally led her to the front of a smallish church with a pretty medieval façade and an impressive bell tower.

"The _Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin_ ," he told her. "Not the biggest deal as churches go, but I'm fond of it."

"What's in here?" she couldn't help asking.

"You'll see in a minute," he answered. "C'mon." He led her inside and towards a side altar on the left of the church, set into a round, elaborately-decorated alcove. There were other people in the basilica, but most were paying attention to other objects around the walls. No one was currently standing where he was taking her.

Jake and Cassandra approached the small table draped with ornate red cloth. "Does – does that sign say what I think it says?" she asked, glancing up at him.

He nodded, smiling. "How much do you know about the legend of St. Valentine?" he asked, looking down at the relic before them. In a lavish golden box on the table, behind a pane of glass, was a skull wearing a dried floral crown.

"Um." She was still staring at the relic. "Not a lot, admittedly."

"The guy's shrouded in mystery. Almost nothin' is definitively known about him. Like a lot of relics, it's actually impossible to verify that this is really him." He glanced at Cassandra with a smile, but she was still watching the skull wide-eyed as if she expected it to do something. "There are other relics from him all over the place. Madrid and Dublin, most notably. All that's known for sure is that St. Valentine was martyred and buried on February fourteenth. But it might not even have been only one guy; there might've been a couple of Valentines."

"So how come the anniversary of this guy's death is now celebrated as the world's most romantic holiday?" Cassandra asked, turning her still-concerned gaze up to Jake's face. He grinned.

"That's where the legend bit comes in," he explained. "There are plenty of variations, but the core of it is still a good story. Sometime in the third century, story goes, there was a Roman Emperor who believed married men made bad soldiers, so he forbade his soldiers from marryin'. St. Valentine continued to perform marriages in secret, as well as minister to Christians, who were persecuted at the time. Eventually he was caught and imprisoned. While waitin' for his sentence, he fell in love with his jailer's daughter. Most o' the stories say she was blind, and many claim that before his execution he healed her blindness."

Cassie made a face, looking at the relic again. "Sounds unlikely."

"So do most of the things we do in a day," Jake teased her. "Before his execution on February fourteenth, he left her a letter signed 'your Valentine.' Hence his appointment as patron of lovers and happy marriages, among other things."

"Other things?"

"Beekeepers and epilepsy stick out in my memory."

"An odd mix," she answered, turning to him again. "The story sounds a lot more tragic than romantic, though. How did the holiday end up like it is?"

"The association with romantic love sprung up in the 14th century. Chaucer is sometimes credited, I think." Jake looked down at the relic again. "It evolved into somethin' you and I might recognize around the 18th century in England. Love letters, flowers, confectioneries, that kinda thing. And then just grew from there."

Cassandra seemed to think about that for a moment, then leaned down to look more closely at the relic. "I guess it's a nice story, even if it's sad," she said quietly.

"I always thought so," he answered, nodding. "Celebratin' a man who believed in love, in spite of adversity. A man who did what he did for the sake of other people's happiness."

"That's a really nice way to look at it," she agreed, smiling a little at him over her shoulder.

"Glad you think so," he answered. "Hey, it's gettin' busier in here. You wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure."

Jake offered his arm and Cassandra took it with a laugh. They slipped back out of the church and strolled slowly down the sidewalk, going nowhere in particular.

"I still haven't quite gotten used to being able to just walk out of our morning into someone else's late afternoon," Cassandra remarked as they wandered. "The light's already starting to go. I only woke up less than three hours ago."

"It's quite somethin'," Jake agreed. "How ya feelin' about our friend St. Valentine?"

"A little better, I think," she admitted. "Although it's hard to feel too negative about anything when you're walking around Rome with one of the most interesting people you know."

"Most interestin', huh?" he asked with a little grin, tucking his free hand into his coat pocket against the cool breeze.

"You're a lot of good things, Jake, but I feel like that's the best testament to your character," she told him. "You're one of the smartest people I know, but you already know that. And besides, at this point I think about 80% of the people I know contend for that position." She laughed. "I could call you handsome, but that hardly speaks to who you are as a person. I could say you're funny, but that's far from the only appealing quality you have. I could say you're safe, but that's very personal, and hard to really explain as a compliment."

"Well you're just full o' flattery today, aren't ya?" he chuckled.

"You've got me in a good mood," she confessed. After a short pause, she told him, "I thought you'd asked me along for a case, you know."

"Well, I might've misled you a little on that front. Didn't know if you'd come along otherwise."

"Me neither," she told him honestly. "I don't know. I'm not resistant to Valentine's Day, I guess. Just avoidant."

"Still?" he asked.

She thought for a moment. When she opened her mouth, though, what came out was not an answer, but a question. "What's that amazing smell?"

He breathed in and glanced around. "Bakery up ahead, across the street, I think," he replied, pointing.

She looked at him hopefully. "Can we go investigate?"

He laughed. "Yeah, sure." They darted across the street and into the little bakery, which smelled heavenly. They admired the tantalizing displays for a few minutes before making any decisions. Eventually Jake went up to the register and requested two pieces of a mouth-watering tiramisu, and a bag of the heart-shaped cookies that had just come out of the oven. "To take back to the Library for the others," he explained when Cassandra lifted a skeptical eyebrow.

They took their tiramisu to one of the bakery's small handful of little tables to eat. It was as delicious as it looked. "I love Rome," Cassie sighed happily.

"I love havin' a job that lets me drop in on Rome whenever I feel like," Jake answered.

"And visit the skulls of long-dead martyrs?" she asked with a laugh.

"When the occasion calls for it," he agreed. "I just wanted to reframe Valentine's Day for ya, Cassie. Give ya a reason not to dislike it so much. It seems like such a Cassandra holiday, and you deserve not to have so many bad memories tied to it."

She chased a chocolate shaving around her plate with her fork. "That's really sweet of you, Jake. This is certainly the nicest almost-Valentine's Day date I've ever been on." She grinned a little.

"So it's a date now?" He raised his eyebrows, the look on his face mostly amused but also, she thought, maybe a little bit hopeful, or relieved.

"Well," she answered slowly, "I figure it more or less qualifies. It has all the key elements. We're alone together, doing something fun. We even got tasty food." She lifted the last bite of her tiramisu to her mouth. "I think the only thing left is for both of us to agree it's a date. If you want?"

He just smiled at her for a second. "Yeah," he told her. "I don't think I mind that. You wanna explore a little more before we go home? I know it's February, but the public garden might still be pretty to visit."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," she said with a nod. He took their plates and forks back to the counter, stuffed the paper bag of cookies into his coat pocket, and offered her his arm again. She took it, smiling.

He seemed to still know where they were, so she let him lead her a few blocks over to a public rose garden. Not much was blooming yet, aside from a few pink buds, but the greenery was still peaceful and the landscaping was lovely, even in the darkening evening. "We should come back in the spring and see it when everything's blooming," Cassandra commented.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Jake told her. He was toying with something in his pocket as they strolled along the quiet paths. Staring absently into the bushes, he was apparently completely lost in thought.

After a few minutes Cassie slowed to a stop and Jake looked at her in surprise. "You seem distracted the last little while. Are you okay? This – I mean, it doesn't have to be a date if you don't actually want it to," she said hesitantly.

"No, Cassandra, it's – it ain't you," he assured her quickly. "I mean, it _is_ you, but it – it ain't what you think. Uh – I did want to show you one more thing," he continued, stumbling over his words a little.

She smiled gently. "What is it?"

He stared distractedly at her face for a moment, then blinked, tearing himself back to reality. "Uh, listen," he started. "I meant it when I said you deserved better, an' I _do_ think Valentine's Day is a very you holiday an' it sucks that you've got such a bad history with it. An' I _did_ want you to have a better one, 'cause you… deserve that. Like I said. Uh. But I also… wanted to be the one to give you a better Valentine's Day." He hesitated, looking down, and then pulled something out of his pocket. As he held out his hand, she saw a pretty, antique-style metal key. "Cards and flowers and chocolates are nice, but I didn't want to just remind you more of all the crappy Valentine's Days you've had. So, uh. There's this small tradition in the Italian province of Padua where they give Saint Valentine's Keys as a romantic gift. They say it's to unlock the giver's heart."

Cassandra was absolutely beaming by now. Jake had been staring at the key in his hand for most of that speech, but finally he looked up at her face again and saw the enormous smile, and he smiled himself, a little nervously. After a moment she took the key from his hand and then, suddenly, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He was thrown a little off-balance by her enthusiasm but he managed to catch himself, wrapping his arms around her lower back and kissing her in return. When she pulled back away, arms still wrapped around him, still smiling that huge smile, he blinked a couple times, trying to force the fog out of his brain.

"Hey, I have a question," she said casually.

"Yeah?"

"How come we're doing all this on the thirteenth?"

"Oh," he said, and laughed. "Well, partly because I knew the basilica would be way busier tomorrow. And partly so that if this was a spectacular failure, your actual Valentine's Day would still be salvageable, and you wouldn't have to add this to your laundry list of reasons not to like Valentine's Day."

Cassandra giggled and leaned her head down against his chest for a moment. "Well, your plan was a success," she informed him. "Hey, did you decorate the Annex too?"

"Yeah. I hoped by the time you got back you woulda warmed up to the idea a bit."

"I have," she answered. "I do have a suggestion though."

"Yeah?" Jake asked again.

She looked up at him again, still unable to contain her joy. "Can the thirteenth be our new Valentine's Day? I could start fresh."

Now it was his turn to grin uncontrollably. He couldn't resist leaning in to kiss her again. "Yeah. That sounds great."


	4. My Favourite Day

From the charming prompt: "Spending the day with you is always my favorite day." (This was submitted to jassandratrash after they reblogged my call for prompts, and forwarded to me by justlook3 under the assumption it was meant for me!)  
Sorry I'm posting in the middle of the dang night lmao  
Also: I got enough prompts that this is gonna keep going for an extra couple days! Hope that's all right with everyone ;)

* * *

"I just got a text from Ezekiel," Cassandra said as she climbed into the passenger side of the truck they'd rented for the day. "He and Eve haven't had any luck yet. They're gonna keep at it, and recommend we just follow up on whatever leads we can on our end. Otherwise, he said, we have express permission from Eve to just do whatever all day. They need to keep the Back Door open, so they'll let us know when Jenkins can open it up for us again."

Jake nodded. "Okay, sounds good. What've we got?"

"Not much, really," she admitted, switching to her notes app and scrolling through it for a moment. "We've got one more art gallery we can check out, but if we don't find anything there, we're done unless we get something new from Ezekiel or Jenkins."

"Well," he said with a grin. "No complaints there. Point me in the right direction." Cassandra laughed and pulled up a map.

x

They wandered the gallery for a couple of hours, taking their time. It was a small one, but they had to check everything thoroughly. Or that was the idea, anyway. Jake was more interested in the art, and Cassandra was more interested in listening to him talk about the art. He had so much insight on the older pieces, no matter who made them or where they came from – he could tell her the traditions the art emerged from, the artist's influences, even the processes by which the piece was made. And with contemporary art, she got to watch and listen as he analysed it in real time, breaking down what he saw into everything that went into making it. Pausing to read the about-the-artist plaque on the wall and then letting that knowledge inform his understanding of the piece, he could tell her so much about it. Where she saw an unusual sculpture or a strange installation, something that could catch her eye and make her stop to puzzle over it, rarely ever reaching a conclusion, he saw the entire history of art and culture building forward to result in something new and beautiful. She never got tired of listening to him explain it, not least of all because of the smile on his face and the passion in his eyes when he did.

Eventually they exhausted the gallery's contents. If what they were looking for was in this city somewhere, it wasn't on display anywhere. They'd have to wait on more information from someone else before they could move forward – despite Ezekiel's enthusiasm at the possibility, breaking into every single gallery and inspecting their archives in detail was not an efficient method of investigation.

"You wanna grab dinner?" Jake asked as they stepped out into what was now the early evening. The sky was slowly darkening, and the air was cool, but still pleasant.

"Yeah, that sounds great," Cassandra answered. "I'm starving, actually."

"There was a little shawarma joint 'round the corner we could try," he suggested, pointing.

"Perfect," she said with a nod. "Lead the way."

They found their way into the tiny restaurant and ordered dinner, sharing a plate of pitas and hummus while they waited for their entrees. "How ya doin'?" Jake asked conversationally, glancing up at her.

"Pretty good," Cassandra answered with a smile. "Been a good day."

"Yeah?" He chuckled. "I thought you'd be frustrated we hadn't found anythin'. Been a lot of runaround for no results yet."

She shrugged. "We found stuff," she said, looking down at her pita as she tore it in half. "Not case-related, but we found lots of stuff, and I got to listen to you talk about it all day."

This time he outright laughed. "You're a saint, for not gettin' tired of all that," he told her.

"Nah," she answered. "I love it. You know so much, and it's so different from everything I know. And you're so excited to share it. Who wouldn't enjoy that?"

"Ezekiel," Jake joked. "But really. You soak it all up so well. Eventually I'm sure you'll absorb everything I have to offer and then you'll have no need o' me anymore."

"I highly doubt that," she argued, looking up into his face again. "You're always learning, and always thinking. You'll always have no things to say. Besides, it's not just about facts. You interpret art in a way I can't, and it's wonderful to get to see that."

His smile softened a bit. "Well, that's just outright flattery," he told her.

"Is not!" Cassandra laughed. "I mean it. I love everything about this."

"This?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"I just - really like working with you. I really like spending the day with you. Those always turn out to be my favourite days," she told him, glancing down at her food again when she was done. His smile grew as he saw her cheeks redden a little.

"Yeah. I'm pretty fond of those days myself," he told her gently.

She met his eye again. "So… can we do this more often, maybe?" she asked hopefully.

He knew what she was talking about. But still… "Go out for dinner? Sure, Cassie. I'd like that."


	5. Brunch

This comes from the following incredible prompt, submitted by peggdaniels on tumblr: "i slept with you the other day and i didn't know we had a mutual friend and now we're sitting across each other for brunch and it's awkward because i ran out when you were asleep." Here's our first AU of the binge!  
Also: oh wow this got a lot longer than I thought it would be when I outlined it. I really like how it turned out though, oh boy. hope you do too.

* * *

Brunch with some coworkers was supposed to be a fun thing. It was Eve and Flynn's anniversary and they wanted to get brunch with their friends before they left that night for a vacation. Cassandra loved the idea; she thought it was sweet that they wanted to share this celebration with others. She loved the idea right up until the moment she sat down at the table and looked across it into the eyes of Jacob Stone.

She hadn't thought she'd be seeing him again, _especially_ so soon.

Okay. No, this was fine. She could handle this. "Cassandra, this is my friend Jake, from the gym," Eve was introducing her. "Jake, this is Cassandra, she works with Flynn."

"Hi," he said with a forced smile. Okay, this was totally fine.

"Hi," she answered quickly, then found a reason to look somewhere else. To her left. "Judson! Charlene! It's so good to see you guys, it's been so long."

"How are you, darling? Is Flynn saving his receipts?"

Cassandra laughed. "Don't worry, I stay on his case about it."

The chair to her right pulled out from the table and her best friend dropped into it. "Sorry I'm late!" Ezekiel greeted, reaching for the coffee in front of him and dipping a finger in to check if it was still hot.

"That's fine, traffic wasn't great when we came up either," Eve answered him.

"Not really traffic so much as just who I am as a person," Ezekiel said candidly. Cassandra was already passing him the sugar dish and the creamer, which he accepted gratefully. "How is everyone?"

"Good," Cassandra answered. "I wasn't sure what you'd want for your meal but I ordered you a mango smoothie."

"And that's why you're my favourite." He shot her a grin and turned his attention to Eve as she offered him introductions to the people he didn't know.

x

Cassandra didn't know what exactly she was after at the bar that night, but she'd gotten pretty tired of spending so many nights in alone. She liked her apartment and her books but once in a while she did want company, and Ezekiel and Eve weren't always available. The bar in her own neighbourhood seemed like a pretty low-risk step out into the world. It wasn't too big, it was never overstuffed, and if she really didn't like it she could be home again inside of eight minutes.

She'd gotten brave after her club soda and was now sipping a mild, fruity cocktail on a stool at the bar, contentedly people-watching for the time being. She saw couples, groups of friends, and a scattered handful of other people who seemed to be there on their own. No one was really catching her eye, but that was all right. She wasn't necessarily looking for someone specific, at least not at this point; just being around other people was good enough for the time being.

But then she glanced up as the front door opened and someone new strolled in. Unlike many of the faces she'd seen in the bar that night, she didn't recognize him from the neighbourhood or even elsewhere in town. With her job, it wasn't uncommon to run into people she knew around the city. But this guy, Cassandra would have remembered – good-looking, maybe a few years older than her, with an air of quiet confidence and a catching smile, too, she noted when he sat down a couple stools away from her and grinned at the bartender.

Realizing she was staring, she looked down into her drink, but she didn't turn away quite in time not to be caught. There was no one in the space between them and he shot her a glance and a friendly smile, clearly unperturbed. "Hey, how are ya?" he asked affably, a charming Southern tinge to his accent.

She smiled back, a little shyly. "I'm doing pretty well, you?"

"Not bad at all," he answered. He looked up and nodded at the bartender as she handed him the beer he'd asked for, then – to Cassandra's mild surprise – returned his attention to the conversation. "You here alone?"

It seemed more like a regular icebreaker than a come-on, which was interesting. She answered honestly. "Yeah, I live in the area. Didn't quite feel like staying in tonight, but didn't have anywhere in particular to go…"

He nodded. "We all have those nights, I think," he said. Turning to face her properly, he offered his hand. "Jacob Stone."

"Cassandra Cillian," she answered as she shook, unable to suppress her smile.

x

Jake had been flattered when Eve invited him along for her anniversary brunch. He'd only met Flynn the once, and mostly only hung out with Eve at the gym, so it surprised him a little to realize that she considered him so close a friend. He'd gathered that most of her and Flynn's other friends were Flynn's coworkers, so it'd be a table of strangers to him, but he was never one to turn down a good plate of French toast, and he thought it was kind of Eve to ask him along, so he was happy to accept. It would have been an understatement to say he was surprised when he looked across the table and saw Cassandra Cillian.

Really, it _shouldn't_ have shocked him quite so much, considering he knew she was a librarian and he knew Flynn was too. Still, this city had probably a dozen different libraries. Some small part of his brain did hear Eve explaining that this was Cassandra, she works for Flynn, he introduced us a year or so ago and we really hit it off. He also, somehow, managed to catch the rest of the introductions after that, just barely – that was Jenkins, another coworker of Flynn's; there's Judson and Charlene, they used to work for the library too but they're retired now, practically like parents to Flynn. And there's Ezekiel, that's Cassandra's best friend, we met him through her, pain in the ass but a good kid really.

By some stroke of sheer luck, Eve didn't notice how he froze up when he saw Cassandra. Normally that woman read him like a book, but she was mostly distracted talking to Flynn and Charlene about something. On his left, Jenkins was busy reading the menu, leaving Jake to stare into his coffee desperately trying to come up with something, anything that could solve this problem. He couldn't cut and leave now; Eve would question him about it next time she saw him – there was no way he could keep her from noticing how awkward he was while ducking out. Even if he tried to come up with an excuse, there was no lying to Eve Baird. And, in spite of himself, he was still really looking forward to that French toast.

He looked up surreptitiously at Cassandra again and watched her interacting with Ezekiel as he got himself sorted, passing him the sugar and creamer, letting him know she'd ordered him a smoothie. He called her his favourite. They were awfully close. Oh, shit, had he-? But his momentary terror abated when Ezekiel stretched, revealing a fresh hickey on his neck, and Cassandra swatted him and said something about a Cindy, so no, he seemed safe.

The longer Jake sat there, the more it felt like his only option was to keep sitting there, quietly, and hope that either things ended soon or he managed to will himself clean out of existence. As if he hadn't felt bad enough last weekend – now he was sitting across from her at this table, pretending they had never met, and oh _god_ this was the most uncomfortable he had ever been in his entire life. He was a man who, generally speaking, dealt with things by avoiding them. Apparently the universe had decided it was time to play a cruel trick on him and make this one, enormous thing completely unavoidable.

x

Jake hadn't gone into that bar looking for company. He'd gone in looking for a beer. It had caught his eye on the way home from this job a couple times, and he figured, what the hell, it was Friday, he could stop for a drink. But when he'd caught that redhead watching him, _wow_. He couldn't resist striking up a conversation.

She was a little shy, but she opened up pretty fast to a friendly face. They traded names, and he asked what she did for a living. She was a librarian. He was in construction, he told her, but he did love to read. Not something he normally let on – it was a bit of an impulse – but any excuse to keep talking to this girl. She was so enthusiastic once she got going. Her interest was in math and sciences, she told him; she couldn't get enough of any of it. He was more into literature, history, the arts. But that didn't stop them from talking – if anything it only made things more engaging. She was so enthusiastic about the things she loved; he couldn't not listen. And she asked so many questions about the topics he was interested in. She'd gleaned a little about the arts, she said, from her boss, who was something of a polyglot from the sounds of it, not to mention from another coworker who'd taken her under his wing a bit. But she loved learning more. It wasn't her strong point, but it was so interesting, partly because it was so different from what she was good at.

Somehow, god only knew how, Cassandra had gotten him talking about poetry. Jake never did this – this was a private side of him, something he rarely showed to anyone, but it was so easy with her. Not only was she absolutely gorgeous, but she was so sweet, so genuine, so enthusiastic – not to mention clearly a genius, which he was in a position to recognise. And, if nothing else, the chances were he'd never see her again. It was hardly a risk, as these things went. At some point he'd shifted to the stool right next to her; he was nursing his second beer now, drinking slowly because of the conversation.

She had finished her cocktail a few moments ago and was sipping from a small glass of water as she listened intently to his description of Raymond Carver's work. Still listening, she leaned over slightly to give his beer a curious sniff, waving her hand over the neck of the bottle like one would a test tube. "Sorry," she said, a little sheepishly, as he paused to watch her. "I was just wondering. I'm not a huge beer drinker, but I didn't recognize this one."

"Oh," he said with a grin. "Yeah, it's one o' my favourites. Hard to find around here. You can taste it if you want."

"You don't mind?" Cassandra asked, taking it from his hand. He shook his head and watched as she took a small sip. "Oh, yeah," she decided with a nod. "That's pretty good, actually. I like it."

"You want one?" he asked.

She seemed surprised. "Um- well, you don't have to, I can buy it myself-"

"Nah, it's on me," he said cheerfully, waving the bartender over. "Consider it a thank you. I couldn't tell ya the last time I had such a good conversation."

"Well, all right then," she answered, smiling and dipping her head a little. Good god but she was cute. He couldn't remember the last time he'd met a woman like this.

x

As everyone chatted, waiting for their breakfast to arrive, Ezekiel glanced around the table. Through Cassandra, he knew Eve pretty well by now; the three of them hung out fairly often. He recognized Jenkins and Flynn from dropping in on Cassandra at work, and though he didn't know Judson and Charlene personally, he knew them by name. The only stranger was the guy sitting on Eve's left, across from Cassandra – Jake, his name was?

Ezekiel read people pretty well, and even if he didn't know this new guy, he could tell the man was trying to disappear. He barely looked up from his coffee unless he was being spoken to, and he was tense all over despite his attempts to look casual. And, Ezekiel couldn't help noticing, Cassandra was trying to look everywhere except at him. When she did have to interact with him – passing napkins down the table when Flynn spilled some tea on the tablecloth – she was excessively polite and a little clipped, which was very unlike her around someone new. But her whole body was closed off and rigid, pulled in tight like she was afraid of unexpectedly touching anyone around her.

Ezekiel frowned slightly, wracking his brains for a moment. Then, suddenly, it struck him like a train – that guy from last weekend. She hadn't told him everything, but she'd told him enough. The guy's name had been Jacob, or something, hadn't it? How had she described him? Good-looking, a little rugged, kind of cowboy-ish. Ezekiel took a long sip of his coffee, trying not to show anything on his face as he put the pieces together.

Next to him, Cassandra was working very hard to act normal. The table was narrow, there wasn't a lot of space between her and Jacob; she kept her feet tucked under her chair and her arms close to her sides, trying not to accidentally interact with him. But she was polite, and as impersonally friendly as she could manage. She tried to pay attention to anything else, participate in any other conversations. Next to her Charlene was talking with Eve about the vacation she and Judson were just back from; to the left of them Judson and Flynn were deep in some discussion about the library. She listened for a while to Charlene's tales of the Greek ruins they'd visited.

"Of course, you know, it had been _ages_ since either of us were in the Mediterranean. So much has changed…"

At some point when that conversation petered out for a few minutes, Cassandra turned the other way and asked Jenkins how his tea was, and what had he been up to this weekend, and had he worked out that issue with the missing catalog cards yet? She stole a sip of Ezekiel's smoothie, trying to look at anything but the man in the seat across from her. Still, she couldn't help stealing glances every now and then. Mostly he was staring at his coffee or the drink menu or Eve, listening to her conversation with Charlene, which had picked back up. At least he wasn't looking at _her_ , thank god.

Finally the food came, which seemed like a blessing at first, until conversations died down as people began to eat. Cassandra stared intently at her eggs, praying for something, anything to happen. What felt like an absolutely interminable amount of time later, people finally started to chat again, and the weight on her shoulders lightened a bit – until she heard Ezekiel say, "So – it's Jake, right?"

x

It wasn't that Cassandra was unaccustomed to talking to smart people. She _worked_ with very smart people. But Jacob was so interesting, and so approachable. And it didn't hurt that he was handsome to boot. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had such a long and engaging conversation with someone so attractive. It had been a while, anyway, and she wasn't going to say no to the attention.

He was two beers in and, apparently, just loosened up enough to go on a passionate little tangent about native art in Oklahoma, where he was from. The subject was completely unfamiliar to her, but she was fascinated. She leaned in, listening closely, resting her chin on one hand and her elbow on the bar. He gestured as he talked, describing a network of caves that had recently been discovered in an oil-drilling operation, and all of the paintings that had been unearthed in the process. It reminded her of another cave she'd read about recently, and when he slowed down, she cut in. There had been some mining in Iceland late last year that had revealed a cavern full of rare crystal formations, and new photographs and information had just recently been made public. The story was enthralling to her, and he couldn't help grinning as he listened to her mounting excitement.

She was taken completely by surprise when he leaned in and kissed her. Not that she didn't want him to; she was more than receptive to the idea. He pulled away fairly quickly, though, looking down in embarrassment. "Sorry, uh, I…"

"Don't be," she answered him with a smile. He glanced back up and met her eyes, returning her smile just a fraction nervously.

x

Jacob had been surprised when Ezekiel suddenly struck up a conversation with him, but all he could do was respond. "Yeah, from the gym," he confirmed with a nod, in answer to the latest question. "Year or so ago she started correctin' my form, and we just kinda naturally got to talkin' about other things eventually."

"That sounds like Eve," Ezekiel laughed. "So whereabouts do you live?"

"Uh, a little east of Eve and Flynn," he answered. "Near the sports centre, if you know where that is?"

"Oh, yeah, I think I know the one," Ezekiel said with a nod. "Decent area. What do you do?"

"I'm in construction," he said simply, taking another bite of his French toast. It was hard to miss the concerned glances Cassandra was shooting at her friend, but he probably shouldn't acknowledge them. Ezekiel certainly wasn't. "We're workin' on that big condo down in the textile district."

"Oh, cool, yeah. Heard that place was gonna be swanky." The young man kept making idle conversation, mostly meaningless stuff, and Jake couldn't help wondering what was going on. He felt like he was being assessed for something, but he had no idea what. At least the questions were easy to answer; anything that required more thought would have had to battle for space with the large part of his brain that was still thinking about the woman across from him.

He still felt awful about Saturday morning. By extension, he felt awful about Friday night as well, but mostly that had been amazing – it was the morning he really regretted. But he'd been scared witless when he woke up and bolting was the only way he knew how to deal with it. He'd been agonizing about it all week; it had to be one of the dumbest things he had ever done. But he wasn't good at lasting, meaningful connections anymore. The friendship he had with Eve was the most important relationship he'd built in years, and it did mean a lot to him, but it was still a very safe one. They almost never talked about anything other than the gym and work. She certainly didn't know any of the things he'd revealed to Cassandra that night.

That was the problem, though. He had revealed a _lot_.

"You in there, mate?"

Jake blinked. "Yeah, sorry. Got sidetracked for a second. What were you sayin'?"

x

Jacob didn't quite know what had come over him. She had paused in her story to take a breath and a sip of her beer, and he just – he couldn't help it. She'd been so friendly and receptive all evening, nothing to suggest she wasn't interested. They'd been leaning in close for the last forty minutes at least. Really, they'd even been flirting a bit, if subtly. A playful joke here and there. And just the body language – all laughing, listening closely, leaning forward, open postures. He knew he'd seen her look at his mouth. So he leaned all the way in and kissed her. An old instinct that hadn't had the opportunity to be indulged in ages.

He was immediately embarrassed. "Sorry, uh, I…" he tried to come up with an excuse, but what was there? He just didn't want her to think that picking her up was all he'd been after in the first place, because it wasn't. He hadn't done anything like that in years, and he certainly hadn't had it in mind when he came in here, or even when he'd started talking to her. But there was such a connection, one that he hadn't expected, nor ever really felt before, and it just overwhelmed him for a moment.

"Don't be," Cassandra answered, and when he looked up again, she was smiling at him. He smiled back, a bit anxious about it. He twisted his third beer in his hands.

"You're, uh – you're pretty great," he said lamely.

Her smile, still a little shy, only grew. "Thanks," she replied. "You are, too." She bit her lip for a second, then leaned in and kissed him again. He rested one hand on her bare knee, momentarily lost in the softness of it, before she pulled back slowly. She took another sip of her drink, apparently fine with his hand on her leg, so he left it where it was while she finished the story she was telling about the cave with the rare crystals.

Somewhere at the end of her story, they sat and just watched each other for a moment, smiling a bit. His hand was still on her knee; their empty beer bottles were next to them on the bar. Cautiously, she slid her left hand along the counter and touched his fingers where they rested there. "Hey, um," she started slowly. "It's kind of noisy here now. I only live a couple minutes' walk away, if you wanted to come back to my apartment to talk more? I could show you that book I was talking about, the one about how music impacts the human brain…"

Jake hesitated. They both knew the invitation wasn't about a book. This probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, but he really, really wanted to. He had almost never clicked so quickly or so deeply with another human being, and goddamn if he wasn't attracted to her, too. "Yeah, okay," he finally said with a smile. "That sounds good. I'll just have to drop a couple more bucks in the meter by my truck."

x

Cassandra could not figure out _what_ the hell Ezekiel was doing. To anyone who didn't know him as well as she did, it would sound like he was making totally innocuous conversation, and if she was being honest she wasn't sure he wasn't – but he had also managed not to catch _any_ of the meaningful looks she'd tossed his way, and normally he was more observant than that, which probably meant he was ignoring her on purpose. She was tempted to kick him under the table, but she also didn't want anyone else to notice the commotion. Eventually she gave up and turned away, trying to pay attention to Eve and Charlene's conversation again, but it was hard not to listen to what was happening behind her.

Ezekiel was still chatting with Jacob about this and that when he paused for a moment, muttered "aw, crap," and apologized to Jacob. She felt him tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around he was looking at his phone. "Hey, did you drive here?" he asked her.

"Yeah, didn't you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Cindy has the car today. Something came up though, I gotta get downtown ASAP."

"Aw, I can drive you!" she offered, relieved to have the excuse.

"No no, I'd hate to make you leave early, I know you were looking forward to this," Ezekiel answered, pausing to think for a second. Then he glanced across the table at Jacob. "Hey," he said slowly, "what if I borrowed your car and Jacob drove you home? You said you live by the sports centre, right?" The second question was directed at Jake. "So you must go past the college? Cassandra lives right near there."

Taken by surprise, Jacob blinked. "Uh – yeah, I guess," he stammered.

Ezekiel turned back to Cassandra, eyebrows raised in earnest. "I'll bring the car back tonight, promise. I just really gotta get down there."

"Are – are you sure you don't just want me to take you?" she tried again, suddenly desperate.

"No, you spent all week telling me how much you looked forward to this brunch!" he insisted. "I'd hate to cut it short on you."

Cassandra tried hard not to let it show how much she'd rather leave. "Yeah, all right," she agreed, reaching for where her purse hung on the back of her chair. "Is Cindy okay?"

"Everything'll be fine. I'll give you the details later. Thank you, Cassandra." While she dug for her keys, Ezekiel reached across the table to get Eve's attention. "Hey, something came up with Cindy, I gotta go. Cassandra's letting me take her car, but Jake said he'd give her a lift home, it's on his way."

"Oh, okay," Eve answered. "Hope everything's all right. Give Cindy our love."

"I will. Thanks Eve. Happy anniversary." He waved quickly to Flynn as he stood. Taking Cassandra's keys from her outstretched hand, he thanked her again and dropped a kiss on top of her head on his way out. That was what really convinced her he was worried; Ezekiel only really got affectionate when something was wrong.

Ezekiel gone, Cassandra swallowed and glanced across the table, making eye contact with Jake for the second time that morning. He looked at least as concerned and thrown off as she was. All right. This was _fine_.

x

Cassandra woke up slowly on Saturday morning, the previous night still bobbing through her head. _Damn_. She could count the number of one night stands she'd had on two hands and still have fingers left over, but still, that had been her best one. And hell, even what had come before it. The conversation had been _amazing_. She almost regretted sleeping with him instead of giving him her number and just asking to see him again. Well, maybe it wasn't too late?

Once she was thinking about it, she didn't need to roll over to know he wasn't in the bed any more. Sitting up slowly, she glanced around and saw that his clothes were all gone from the floor. Fighting a sinking feeling in her stomach, she climbed out of bed, wrapped up in her housecoat, and padded into the living room. Nope. It was too quiet for anyone else to be here, and a quick circuit of the apartment confirmed it. All she found were last night's wine glasses washed in the rack next to the sink, which seemed an odd gesture, though not, she reflected, unwelcome. With a sigh, she turned on the kettle and shuffled back to the living room, curling her legs under her in her chair.

She sat and thought for a few minutes, trying to decide how she felt about the situation. Disappointment was the only thing she could pin down for certain. She looked at her phone for a minute, considering. Eve, she knew, was working this morning. So, after another moment, she dialled her best friend. "Ezekiel?" she asked when he picked up. "Had a weird night. You wanna come by for a coffee?"

x

Now, Jake found, instead of willing brunch to end as soon as possible, he wished it would go on forever. Sitting across from her at this table was awkward, but driving her home would be _much_ worse. He didn't want to be trapped in his truck with her for the twenty minutes it would take to get her there. He also, however, couldn't leave her here alone.

Some part of him hoped desperately, as they wound up their meal (Cassandra paying Ezekiel's bill with a small sigh), that someone else would offer her a lift. But it sounded like Jenkins had to go to the library afterwards, and Charlene and Judson lived in the opposite direction. And before he could get any idea whether Flynn and Eve could take her, Eve turned to him. "Thanks so much for offering Cassandra a lift, by the way, Jake. We would've taken her but we have to run some errands before our flight leaves tonight, and time is tight. I really appreciate it, you're a pal."

"Thanks for coming, Jake," Flynn added, leaning around her to shake hands. "Sorry we didn't talk much! Next time."

"No problem," Jake found himself answering, plastering on a smile. "Thanks for invitin' me. Happy anniversary, you guys."

Once bills were paid and goodbyes were said all around – evidently Cassandra needed to hug Charlene and Judson because she saw them so rarely, and Eve and Flynn had to hug them because they were leaving the country that evening – everybody headed out into the parking lot. Cassandra and Jake still hadn't spoken to each other yet, so he just gestured awkwardly towards his truck, and they clambered in in silence.

As he fumbled his key into the ignition, she finally spoke. "So, um, do you need the address?"

"I remember," he answered woodenly, not looking at her.

They drove in silence for a couple of minutes. He turned on the radio to try to combat it, but somehow it only seemed to highlight the fact that they weren't speaking. The awkwardness in the truck was palpable; he didn't know if he'd survive the drive. Suddenly, she seemed to burst.

"Why did you wash the glasses?"

Well, it wasn't the question he'd expected. He glanced at her briefly, surprised. "Uh, I just – I felt like I should do somethin' for you. Thanks for a good night, 'n all. Didn't wanna just completely disappear." He winced; completely disappear was exactly what he'd done anyway.

That wasn't the part that she latched onto, though. "So it _was_ a good night?" she asked him.

"What? – Yeah," he answered, taken aback. "Yeah, it was… it was the best night I'd had in ages." He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"So it wasn't something _I_ did," she continued.

Oh, lord, had she been worrying about that all week? "God no, Cassie, it wasn't you," he assured her. For a moment he flashed back to the last time he'd called her _Cassie_ , in her bed in the dark, and then he frowned and dragged himself back to the matter at hand.

"Okay," she answered, letting out a long breath. "So then… what was it? What makes a guy wash the dishes and then bolt, no note, no phone number, no nothing? After a night like that? I mean, I thought it was really good." He shot her another glance out of the corner of his eye, and her face was flushed. "I mean, everything before the – the sex, too. Like, I've had planned dates with people I'd been into for months that were way less enjoyable than that."

Jake gritted his teeth as he rounded a corner. Yeah, that was true. He couldn't think of a date he'd ever been on that had gone as well as last Friday night. "That's the _problem_ ," he told her in a pained voice. He didn't see a way out of this that didn't involve some measure of honesty, unless he just clammed up completely, and that didn't seem preferable.

"What do you mean, that's the problem?" Cassandra asked, baffled.

"I mean…" he ground his teeth again, wishing that he didn't have to say it out loud. Saying it out loud meant admitting it was true. But here he was. "I woke up in the mornin' next to a beautiful, brilliant, funny woman who'd charmed me all night and listened to me talk about art and literature like it was interestin' and then on top of it all brought me _home_. And for a second I thought, _I could get used to this._ And that scared the shit outta me, Cassie."

"Why?" she asked, but it wasn't frustrated, it wasn't a demand – she seemed genuinely upset that he felt that way. She wanted to understand. Part of him couldn't bear that.

He leaned forward to glance around the road a bit, then pulled over outside of a closed barber shop. Turning the truck off, he answered, "'Cause I ain't ever safely been able to get used to _anythin'_ , Cassandra. Especially when I put myself out there a bit." He looked at her and pointed at his head. "Almost nobody knows about the art and literature and history stuff. Never gone over well when I told 'em. Finally left Oklahoma behind when I couldn't put up with my old man anymore, but it hasn't been a lot better anywhere else. People expect me to be dumb 'n strong, an' I more or less play the part." He turned and looked out the windshield again.

The look on her face was heartbroken. "Why would you hide that?" she asked him. "You're obviously a genius. You know so much about so many things. You're _fascinating_ to talk to."

Jacob shrugged, squeezing the steering wheel in both hands. "Like I said. Just ain't ever gone over well when I tried it. People don't like when you're the opposite o' what they expect you to be."

She hesitated, then reached out and touched his leg gently. " _I_ liked it," she said softly. He tensed a bit, not answering. "Does Eve know?" she asked.

He shook his head. "We mostly only talk about the gym and our jobs. Stuff like that."

"She'd like the Jake I met last night," Cassandra told him confidently. "Flynn would, too. Well – he'd love that Jake, actually. Flynn loves nothing better than another genius to riff with. You should see him go when he's excited. It's a spectacle."

He looked down into his lap. "It ain't just that, Cassie. It was the whole… experience. Of bein' with you. There was so much connection. I dunno if I ever felt like that with anybody, 'specially so fast. _That's_ what scared me so bad."

Cassandra softened even further. He turned to look at her again, wondering what she was thinking in the silence, and she leaned in and kissed his cheek gently, slowly. He watched her carefully as she pulled back, staying near him now. "I felt it, too," she told him. Then, apparently seeing straight through him now to his precise fears, she continued, "I wasn't gonna send you on your way in the morning, you know. When I woke up I was still thinking about how amazing the whole night had been. The _whole_ night," she repeated, looking at him meaningfully. "For a minute I was wishing I'd asked you out instead of bringing you home. Then I thought, well, maybe I wasn't too late to make plans for another time, or at least trade numbers. But then I got up and saw you were gone, and I figured that where I saw future potential, you… didn't."

"Oh," he said quietly. Then, " _Oh_."

Smiling, she reached up and touched his face, stroking a thumb across his stubbly cheek. After searching her eyes for a moment, Jake leaned in and kissed her. It was sweet and soft and slow and not at all what he was used to, but he liked it a lot.

"You wanna come back to my place and talk about this some more?" she asked him when he pulled back. "See about giving this a second shot?"

"That's not a euphemism this time?" he asked, grinning.

"No," she laughed. "Although, you know… we can just see how things play out." She raised her eyebrows, smiling.

"Okay. Yeah," he answered with a chuckle. "That sounds good, Cassie."

She kissed him again, and then she sat back in her seat, rebuckling her belt, while he started the truck back up. As they drove the last few minutes to her apartment in much more comfortable silence, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket. It was Ezekiel.

 _I figure it's been long enough to say you're welcome. ;)_

Cassandra stared at the screen for a moment, an expression of dawning comprehension on her face. "Oh my god," she said slowly, horrified.

"What?" Jake answered, glancing over in concern.

" _He planned this_ ," she told him, still staring at the screen. Her phone buzzed a second time.

 _Cindy says good luck, btw!_


	6. Dawn

From the very sweet anonymous prompt, "Every dawn by your side is a special day." Happy Valentine's Day! I promised my boyfriend I'd pay attention to him, so I'll write more after he leaves tonight, haha.

* * *

It was late evening when the team tumbled out of New Delhi into Portland's early morning. Thanks to the time difference, they'd been going for about twenty hours straight, and everyone was tired – doorlag, as Ezekiel had taken to calling it. They did the bare minimum in terms of wrapping up the case, leaving a note for Jenkins and everything else for after they had all had some time to sleep. Ezekiel had disappeared almost instantly; Eve had to haul Flynn away from his desk and out to the car so they could go home. Cassandra and Jacob were close behind them, wandering sleepily out the front door. They waved as Flynn and Eve pulled away from the curb and away into the slowly lightening morning.

Jake was turning towards his truck when he glanced back over his shoulder to wave at Cassie and saw her clambering up onto the hood of her car. Grinning to himself, he turned and took a few steps back toward her. "Whatcha up to over there?" he called out.

She glanced back and shot him a sheepish smile. "Sun'll be up in a few minutes," she explained. "Thought I'd watch the dawn."

For a minute he stood there with his hands in his pockets, shaking his head. Then he said, "C'mon. I know a spot a five minute drive away where we can see it better."

"Yeah?" She smiled and slid back off her car, crossing the fifteen feet between their vehicles. "Okay, let's be quick."

"Yeah." They hopped into the cab of his truck and he started up the engine.

Jake drove them out to an empty lot on a hill where the view to the east was pretty clear, and parked facing the opposite direction. They hopped out and he waved her around the back, where he helped her into the truck bed and from there onto the roof of the cab. They sat there side-by-side, heels tapping the truck's back window, facing the horizon where it was starting to turn orange. There wasn't a lot of space on the roof there; they sat close together, their hands overlapping in the small space between them.

Drowsy despite herself, Cassandra leaned her head on Jacob's shoulder as the sun crept its way slowly into the sky. "Thanks," she murmured to him as they watched.

"Yeah," he answered quietly, leaning his cheek against the top of her head. "Thanks for the idea."

She nodded lazily. "I'm glad I thought of it. It's beautiful."

"Sure is," he agreed. "One o' the most beautiful things I ever saw."

She smiled. "And you're an expert."

"S'pose so," he answered, amused. They were quiet for a few more moments before he suggested, "I oughtta show you an Oklahoma sunrise sometime."

"Worth seeing, huh?"

"You bet," he told her. "Everything's pretty flat where I'm from. There's a lot o' sky."

"Sounds nice," she agreed. "Oklahoma's a couple hours ahead of us. But next time we get back to the Annex around four or five in the morning, we can keep that in mind. Accounting for the time of year, and everything."

"Yeah, I like that plan," Jake said. "Feel like any day that starts with Cassie an' a sunrise is probably gonna be a good day."

Cassandra smiled broadly. "Even if we have to sleep afterwards because we've been awake for almost twenty-four hours?"

"Yeah. Even then." Tired and content and feeling a little less inhibited than usual, he turned and kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him, beaming, and he couldn't help noticing that even completely worn out she was absolutely adorable.

"Maybe we should try to catch more sunrises then," she suggested, biting back an enormous smile.


	7. Cupid is Also Real

From this delightful prompt from my sweetest follower, strongtvwomen: "protecting Cupid like they did Santa." This one was tricky! I love the prompt and had all the ideas but the story wasn't quite cooperating with me. I tried to have it done last night but sometimes you just have to know when to call it a day. It still isn't quite what I originally thought it would be but I'm fairly content with it now! Hope you are too (:

* * *

"Well honestly, Jenkins, this is absurd. What do you mean he's _real?_ "

Jenkins sighed heavily. "Mr. Stone, after a while, I'd really expect you to stop questioning these things."

"I'm willing to accept a lot by now, but this?" Jacob threw a hand out, indicating the man in question.

"You really want us to believe that Cupid is real?" Ezekiel added, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, sort of?" Jenkins leaned on his desk. "Again, it's not in the way you think. He's not some fat little winged baby that goes around shooting people with arrows willy-nilly and causing romantic chaos."

"I'm _right here_ ," Cupid pointed out, waving a hand in the air. A fairly androgynous-looking young man in maybe his late teens or early twenties, he was slim with an olive complexion, curly dark hair, and huge brown eyes. He was dressed rather innocuously in a band tee and a pair of jeans. "And for the record, the fat babies are puttoes, or cherubs, and romantic chaos is really more Puck's deal than mine. I have a little more _finesse_ , okay."

Cassandra peeked around the shelf she was hiding behind. "Can I come out now? I'd really like to meet you, Cupid," she said, a little plaintively.

"Not if you're still wearing that bee sweater!" he snapped, crossing his arms.

"I don't have anything else to _wear_ ," she told him, casting Jenkins a pleading look.

Jenkins only shrugged. "Cupid hates bees, Cassandra, I'm sorry."

Jake rolled his eyes and unbuttoned his plaid flannel, striding over to the shelf Cassandra was hiding behind. "Here," he offered, pulling it off and holding it out to her.

"Will you be warm enough in just your t-shirt?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," he told her. "I think I have another shirt in my car if it really turns out to be an issue."

"All right…" Cassandra took the shirt from his outstretched hand. "Give me a minute." She retreated behind the shelf again and Jake turned around, facing Jenkins again.

"So _why_ are we babysitting Cupid?"

"Babysitting!" Cupid cried in indignation before Jenkins could answer. "I'm thousands of years old! You're _bodyguarding_ me while your dumb boss and his Guardian try to get my bow and arrows back!"

"This _is_ kind of Flynn's fault," Jenkins said with a nod. "He did get them stolen in the first place."

"I wish I had any idea how that happened," Cassandra muttered, emerging from behind Jacob with his shirt tied at her waist and then buttoned the rest of the way up. The blue-and-black plaid went surprisingly well with her floral skirt. Jake blinked and raised his eyebrows as he watched her cross the room, bundling her bumblebee sweater into a ball and shoving it into a drawer in Jenkins' desk.

"What do various bad guys want with Cupid's bow and arrows anyway?" Ezekiel asked. "Don't know how much they can accomplish just making people fall in love all over the place." Cupid bristled again, but he didn't have a chance to speak.

"Do you just pretend the whole Cindy ordeal didn't happen?" Cassandra asked Ezekiel, raising her eyebrows. "Is it denial?"

Jake cleared his throat. "Actually, if we're going by the early Roman myths, there are probably two types of arrows, right? Gold and lead." He glanced at Cupid, sighing. "The gold ones fill the victim with uncontrollable desire, and the lead with aversion and a desire to flee."

Cupid huffed. "A highly simplistic explanation, but _yeah_ , I guess that's _basically_ accurate," he admitted grouchily.

"So it's the lead arrows they probably want then," Ezekiel surmised. "All right. I guess I can see that."

"And there's nothing else we can do?" Cassandra asked, turning to Jenkins again. "Flynn really just wants us to look after Cupid?"

"I assure you, he and Eve have the situation under control," Jenkins told her. "They only need us to keep an eye on Cupid here at the Library."

"All right, mate," Ezekiel said, turning to Cupid. "Not everybody gets invited to hang out in the Library. Whaddaya wanna do while you're here?"

x

"Is that Pan's flute? I haven't seen that thing in _ages_. I wonder how Pan's doing these days. I never quite liked that guy…" Cupid was commenting as they walked him through the Library's collection. He and Ezekiel were in the lead, Ezekiel always surprisingly enthusiastic about showing off the Library's more interesting artifacts when he had the chance, as if he were responsible for the retrieval of every one of them instead of just a scattered few.

Lagging behind them by ten or twelve feet, Jake and Cassie exchanged amused glances while they listened to their friend find ways to brag about artifacts he'd never even touched before. "Hey. By the way," Jacob said quietly after looking at her once. "You look good in that shirt. Much cuter on you than it ever is on me."

Cassandra smiled brightly. "Oh, thank you!" she said, smoothing her skirt self-consciously. "It's comfy. I've never been a flannels person, but maybe I should invest in one or two."

Grinning, he joked, "I'll be sure to point you to all my favourite cowboy outlet stores." She giggled.

The two of them looked ahead again and caught Cupid casting them a suspicious glance over his shoulder. Awkwardly, they shuffled a couple of inches apart as they walked, but the smiles didn't quite disappear from their faces.

"Oh, hey, I have a good idea," Ezekiel suggested. "Let's go visit Nessie Jr. in the large collections annex."

"Nessie _Jr.?_ " Cupid asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Nessie laid an egg earlier this year. I got to babysit it for a bit," Ezekiel told him with a grin. "Actually it hatched with me so I'm Nessie Jr.'s mom as far as she's concerned. She's bonding with her real mom okay I think, but I still spend a lot of time with her. It works out, since Nessie spends time back in her Loch on a pretty regular basis anyway." He set off towards the hall of doors.

Inside the large collections annex Ezekiel turned left and led the other three down a long, winding staircase to the artificial lake that sat below the annex's branching pathways and exciting artifacts. A soft blue glow rose from the water. Ezekiel knelt down at the edge and splashed his hand on the smooth surface. "Hey, Ness!" he called.

The little lake monster's head popped up from the surface a moment later. She was growing fast, nearly as big as Ezekiel now. He greeted her fondly, scratching the top of her head, encouraging Cupid to pet her too when the young god expressed uncertainty.

Off to one side, Jake and Cassie smiled at the scene. They'd been to visit baby Nessie often enough with Ezekiel that the novelty had worn off, and now she seemed almost mundane, like a friend's dog. Always charming, but no longer quite as exciting as she had once been.

Nessie Jr. dipped under the water again, swimming away, and came back a few moments later with a soft ball clamped in her mouth. "Aw, wanna play, girl?" Ezekiel asked her fondly as she deposited it in his outstretched hand. He wound up his arm and hurled the waterlogged ball as far across the lake as he could, watching it sink beneath the surface. While she dove away to find it, he kicked off his shoes and rolled up his pants, perching on the edge with his feet dangling in the water.

Jake and Cassandra both knew that meant they'd be there for a while. Baby Nessie could take ages to tire out. He glanced at her and jabbed a thumb towards the water. "You wanna put your feet in too?" he asked.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," she answered, toeing out of her shoes. He did the same, stuffing his socks inside his boots and cuffing his jeans, and they sat down side-by-side on the edge of the lake, a short distance away from Ezekiel. Cupid watched the three of them for a moment, then shrugged and leaned down to untie his sneakers. He sat down by Ezekiel as Nessie came back with the ball.

"So, whaddaya think of Cupid?" Jake asked, leaning back on his arms and looking at Cassandra.

"He's kind of odd," she admitted. "It's not like meeting Santa. Cupid seems more like… I dunno, just a kid."

"Underwhelmed, huh?"

She smiled. "I guess a little. I don't want to be rude, though. Maybe he'd be more impressive with his bow and arrows? We'll have to see when Eve and Flynn come back."

"Yeah, maybe." Jake tossed a glance over at Cupid where he sat by Ezekiel, watching Ness a little warily. "Man, the bee thing was weird. I know the guy got stung once, but _still_ …"

"I know, right?" Cassie agreed, feigning offense. "I don't know what his problem was. That sweater is adorable, and I look _great_ in it."

"Yeah, it's pretty cute on you," Jake answered, grinning back at her. "But everythin's cute on you, so I don't figure anyone's losin' out." Cassandra smiled then, dropping the mock vanity, and looked down at her feet in the water.

Little Nessie brought the ball back to Ezekiel several times in a row, only ever taking two or three minutes to find it and bring it back. On her fifth or sixth return she swam over to Jake instead, depositing the sopping ball next to him. "Aw, Nessie," he complained. "You're gonna get my pants all wet." He scooted closer to Cassandra to avoid the growing puddle.

"She knows you have the best arm, mate," Ezekiel laughed.

Jake sighed. "All right, kid," he said to the young lake monster. He pulled his feet out of the water and got up, hoisting the ball and throwing it as far as he was able. It soared into the distance and Nessie dove cheerfully away. Jake sat down again, tight up against Cassandra's side to avoid the now sizeable puddle on his left. She didn't move away, instead giggling as they returned to whatever conversation they'd been having.

Cupid pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are they always like this?" he asked Ezekiel.

"Oh god yeah, it's always this bad, mate," Ezekiel answered with a snort. "You don't know the half of it."

"It comes off them in _waves_ ," Cupid complained. "I may not have my bow and arrows, but my sensibilities remain intact. I can feel those two like you could feel your pants on fire."

Somehow, in the process of shuffling over away from the puddle, Jake had managed to splash Cassie's legs, and in retaliation she'd splashed back at him. Laughing, he'd kicked back, and by now they were splashing each other and giggling away like children. Cupid put his fingers to his temples. "Mars's _beard_ ," he muttered.

An hour or so later, once Nessie Jr. had finally tired of playing fetch, the four of them climbed up the stairs again and headed back into the main Library, shoes in hand. Their bottoms were all wet after being splashed and nuzzled by an affectionate Nessie, and they agreed to head back to the Annex for towels and some lunch.

Towels wrapped around everyone's waists (and an irritable Jenkins grumbling at them as he left to mop up the damp trail they'd left behind them), they soon stood in the Annex kitchen finding themselves something to eat. Ezekiel and Cupid agreed to split the leftover pizza from the fridge, and Jake and Cassie started in on making sandwiches. Apparently their playful mood hadn't worn off yet, because they stood side-by-side at the kitchen counter, hip-bumping each other aside and stealing knives and condiments from each other, each trying to finish their own sandwich first.

Cupid groaned, and Ezekiel shot him a sympathetic look from his position next to the toaster oven. "Okay. You two?" the god finally said, loudly. Jake and Cassandra turned to look at him in surprise. "This is _unbearable_ ," he informed them. "I'm the god of affection, attraction, desire, and erotic love. I can _feel_ that stuff, _especially_ the unrequited variety. And sweet baby Hercules, you and your mutual pining is giving me the _biggest_ headache. Do you know what that _feels_ like to me? Poor Ezekiel has to deal with you all the time. He calls it tension; I call it _everything is on fire._ " He threw his hands in the air. "If I had my damned bow and arrows, I'd shoot you both right now and let you figure it out. One golden arrow, clean through the both of you." Closing one eye and extending his arms in a pantomime of archery, he lined up the shot. "Your shoulder, then hers. Zip. Everything you two aren't saying comes right out."

Both were left wide-eyed by his exclamation, but off to one side, Ezekiel grinned delightedly. Jacob suddenly coughed. "We'd – we'd say all kinds of things if you shot us," he stammered. "That's what the golden arrow _does_ , it fills people with desire."

"No-o-o-o-o," Cupid told him, shaking his head and dragging the word out as if he were speaking to an idiot. "I told you that was a simplistic explanation. It forces you to _reveal_ your _existing_ desires. If I hit both halves of a pair with mutual feelings in one shot, it can bring all _sorts_ of things to light, _very_ fast. And with a pair like you, it is a _huge_ relief." He pulled a hand back through his dark curls. "In fact, you know something? If you two don't get this sorted by the time your boss gets back here with my stuff, I _will_ shoot you both, and then you'll have no _choice_ in the matter."

At that moment the toaster oven dinged. Ezekiel removed the pizza he was reheating and dropped it onto a couple of plates. "Hey, Cupid, you wanna go eat in the Annex?" he asked conversationally.

" _Yes_ ," Cupid answered, giving Jake and Cassandra a wide-eyed, very pointed look. He took his pizza from Ezekiel and followed him out the door.

The pair exchanged awkward glances. "So, um…" Cassandra started, slowly putting the mayonnaise-covered knife down on top of the jar.

"Yeah." Jake cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I uh… I guess we should talk, huh?"

x

Cupid was finishing his pizza when he suddenly slumped over and exhaled loudly. "OH wow, damn, I feel like someone just lifted a load of bricks off my chest," he groaned. "They got it sorted, all right."

"Oh really?" Ezekiel asked, grinning again. He hopped to his feet. "Well, I've got to at _least_ take a peek."

He trotted cheerfully back to the kitchen door and peered in, silent as ever. Jacob had Cassandra pressed back against the edge of the counter, kissing her deeply, his hands on her hips and hers on the back of his neck. Their unfinished sandwiches lay open and forgotten on the cutting board beside her. Grinning widely, Ezekiel nodded and turned back down the hall.

"Thank you, Cupid," he said as he returned, hopping up to sit on the edge of the central table. "They're still going to be insufferable, but at least now I can tell them to get a room."


	8. So Damn Tired

From athenamay24's prompt, "First real date (on Valentine's Day or not) after having a baby/babies"  
This one was interesting because it's not the kind of thing I often write, and it differs a bit from my headcanon of Jake and Cassandra's future together (I imagine them adopting). But it was fun! I hope you like it (:  
(P.S. I had to text my mom to double-check that I was getting parts of this right, lmao... and then she gave me advice on a bunch of ridiculous situations I could bring up if I wanted to take it in a humourous direction. I also just generally took inspiration from my parents' stories about parenting and my own memories of my brothers as babies.)

* * *

It had been two months since the baby came home and Jacob and Cassandra finally, _finally_ , had a chance at a night to themselves. It had taken a few days to decide what they should do with it, but in the end they decided to just go for dinner at their favourite Greek restaurant downtown and then try to catch that new movie from the series Cassandra liked so much.

"I hope Ezekiel and Faith are all right. I left them enough milk, didn't I?" Cassandra asked as they sat down.

"Darlin', you left enough milk for a whole day," Jake promised her. "They're gonna be fine. Ezekiel loves our little girl more than I've ever seen him love anything."

She smiled at that. "I never would have thought Ezekiel for babysitting before this happened. Eve and Flynn, definitely. Even Jenkins in a pinch – he'd fuss, but he wouldn't let us down. Besides, I've seen him fawning over her when he thought we weren't looking. Ezekiel, I'd leave our dog, but I would never have guessed the day would come that I'd leave him our daughter."

"I'm pretty sure he loves her even more'n he loves our dog," he laughed, throwing an arm around her in their tiny two-person booth. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"When are we going to ask him to be her godfather?" she asked, brushing her hand affectionately against her husband's leg.

"I guess we should do it soon, huh?" Jake agreed. "I thought it'd be kinda funny to ask him on his birthday."

Cassandra raised her head again and beamed at him. "I didn't even think of that! That's perfect," she answered. "We should write it on a little note and put it inside a giant box."

He laughed. "We already ordered him a regular present, Cassie," he pointed out.

"I know. We can give that to him after," she said with a grin.

"I do love you," he murmured fondly, kissing the side of her head.

She flipped idly through the menu, despite the fact that they almost always ordered the same thing. "Gosh, I'm tired," she admitted. "I can barely read this thing."

"I know," Jake agreed, rubbing his eyes as he skimmed the menu over her shoulder. "How'd you sleep last night? Faith had me up at three, but I thought I managed not to wake you that time…"

"It's not you," she told him. "It's her. I can't help waking up. I think I slept okay, though? Better than the night before, anyway."

"This parentin' business is an awful lotta work."

"Can't say we weren't warned," Cassandra chuckled. "It was all we ever seemed to hear about for a while there."

"'S true," he agreed.

A waitress came by with a couple glasses of water and asked what she could get them. Exchanging a glance, they ordered their default favourite, a mixed souvlaki plate for two. She took their menus and they settled back into the booth again, leaning tiredly on each other.

Smiling, Cassandra asked, "Did you see the way Faith's eyes lit up when Ezekiel picked her up tonight?"

"God, I love those eyes," Jake answered warmly. "Even if she does get just as excited for Ezekiel as she does for me."

"She does not," his wife disagreed, laughing. "She loves her daddy the most, anyone can tell."

"I dunno…" he teased, but she swatted him playfully.

"Come on. What was it, Tuesday? I tried _everything_ to calm her down. But as soon as you came in and scooped her up, she was all smiles." She reached up and patted him on the cheek.

"Yeah, okay…" He looked down, grinning. "That was pretty cool."

"Yeah. She's pretty cool."

"She really _does_ like _everybody_ , though," he pointed out. "As long as she's in a good mood – and she usually is – she's just delighted no matter who's visitin' with her. She gets that from her mama."

Cassandra laughed. "That's true, but I still think you're her favourite," she said. "She gets that from me, too." She turned to face him so she could give him a kiss. Then, leaning back, she laughed again and rubbed across his cheeks with her thumbs. "Look at you, you're exhausted. Did _you_ sleep enough?"

"I'll get by," he assured her. "Been lookin' forward to tonight. Have to stay awake one way or another."

"Kid sure is draining, for such a tiny creature," she complained good-naturedly.

"You ain't wrong," Jake agreed. "I miss sleepin' all night."

"Or reading more than three pages of a book at a time," she added.

"Or eatin' peanut butter without thinking about how it looks like baby poop." He stuck out his tongue in half-mocking disgust.

"Or not wearing these horrible bra pads," she continued, making a face and reaching into her shirt to adjust a strap.

He snorted. "Ain't we a pair."

"You bet," she told him resolutely, and he gave her a peck, smiling. "But, you know… parenting isn't so bad."

"Nah. It's pretty neat so far," he agreed. "I like the kid. Pretty little thing. Has her mama's eyes."

"And her daddy's great big smile," Cassandra reminded him.

"You know, I always kinda used to imagine myself with a whole baseball team," he teased. "Lotta kids in my family. Not a tradition I'd mind carryin' on."

She laughed. "I'm not so sure about that," she said. "But it's true, the first one's pretty good. Maybe we'll see how we're doing in another year or so, okay?"

"Well, all right." Jacob yawned, then grinned as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder. "God, I'm tired. I don't know if I'm gonna make it through a whole movie, Cassie."

"Yeah, me neither," she admitted. "But it's pretty worth it, isn't it?"

"Sure is," he agreed, lifting his head a bit and leaning in to kiss her neck. She giggled and pushed him off playfully.

"Not in the restaurant, Jake," she laughed, and he straightened up again, still grinning.

"Oh, fine," he agreed. "But I don't know _how_ you expect me to stay awake otherwise."


	9. Five Interruptions, Plus One More

From the anonymous prompt, "Jacob want their first kiss to be amazing but when he trying to kiss Cassandra somebody or something being interrupted them."

Oh my god it's ten to four am I need to go the HELL to bed, I have a midterm to bomb tomorrow

(this prompt was cute. I added in the bit with Ray when I realized that by doing so I could make it a five times x and one time y fic. also, like I said, it's four in the morning, which is basically a normal bedtime for me even if it shouldn't be, but I AM tired, so if I missed anything editing, I will most likely find it tomorrow. okay, enjoy.)

* * *

Jacob hadn't been expecting this eventuality, but it was hard to deny that the moment was ideal. He and Cassandra in a hot air balloon, drifting slowly away from the small mountain where Eve and Ezekiel had been left behind. It wasn't the best escape plan, nor the smoothest, but it worked, and they'd seen the other two take the Serpent Brotherhood's truck, so in theory everyone on their team was safe and the Brotherhood was left to traverse their way down the mountain on foot. In the distance, they could see the truck making its way down the mountain road, presumably to meet them at the rendezvous point Cassandra had suggested after a few quick calculations, before the balloon was untethered. In the meantime, the balloon had plenty of fuel, the radio was out of range for communication, and there was nothing much to do but talk.

They'd been chatting away, and even flirting a bit, for the better part of an hour now, taking turns keeping an eye on the burner. It hadn't taken them long, working together, to figure out how it worked. They stood together in the little basket, climbing or descending as Cassandra calculated was best based on the wind speed and direction, and otherwise just admiring the afternoon as it eased into early evening.

"Another experience I get to cross off that brand-new bucket list," she told him with a smile.

He grinned at her. "Must be a pretty long one, huh?"

"Yeah. The sudden knowledge that I have a whole life ahead of me is pretty exciting. There's all kinds of stuff I can't wait to do," she answered. He watched the breeze tousle her hair and thought, not for the first time, that he'd never seen anything better. Well, he'd been waiting for the perfect time.

"Anythin' else I can help you with, you think?" Jacob asked, that flirtatious note in his voice again. Cassie turned to face him, matching his smile.

"I dunno. Maybe," she answered, half-teasing and half-shy.

He straightened up a bit from where he'd been leaning on the edge of the basket, stepping closer to her slowly – partly the mood, partly not wanting to wobble the basket too much – and stopped directly in front of her, only inches away. They were both still smiling. He leaned in, only a fraction of a second away from her when suddenly–

The radio on his belt made a horrifying screeching noise and they both jumped. Jacob cursed as Eve's voice crackled through.

"— _hear me? Stone, Cassandra, DO YOU COPY. Guys—_ "

Irritated, he ripped it off his hip and brought it to his mouth. "We read you, Baird."

" _God! I hate the range on this thing. Are you two okay?_ "

"We're fine," he answered grumpily. Cassandra peered over the edge of the basket for a moment, then pointed at the road a distance away.

"There they are!"

"We see you," Jacob told Eve with a short sigh. "You guys good?"

x

Jacob didn't mind one bit that it was his turn to be Cassandra's fake date. He wasn't wild about that bimbo character she always played, but when she smiled at him over her shoulder he could see the real her shine through, and that was the girl who could make him weak in the knees. The evening gown she wore was drop-dead gorgeous, and it was hard to keep his hands off her. Luckily that worked just fine for their cover.

Eventually he found an excuse to swirl her onto the dance floor, and he couldn't have been much more pleased about it. Spinning her gently around and then pulling her close, finally getting the chance to take her _away_ from everybody else's attention and have her to himself for a moment – it was a little selfish, but part of him didn't want to share.

"You're a good dancer," she said softly, apparently amused.

"Surprised?" he teased, shooting her a grin.

"A little," she answered with a giggle. "But pleasantly so."

"Big family," he explained. "Lotta weddings. You pick it up."

Now she laughed outright. "Well, it paid off. This is really nice," she told him.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. The dance allowed him, then, the opportunity to pull back just far enough to get a good look at her face. She smiled at him. _God_ , but she looked beautiful; his heart damn near stopped. It was just about the end of the song. It would be the perfect time to…

Jacob was leaning in, and he thought Cassandra was too, but at that _precise_ moment, Flynn collided with them from the side. He grabbed one of their arms in each hand and dragged them with him as he barrelled across the dance floor, not even stopping.

"Flynn-?" Cassandra managed.

"I pissed off a whole troop of gremlins in the basement," he squawked breathlessly. "We have to _go_."

x

All five of them were on a boat on the ocean, nothing to do but bob on the waves overnight. A day's diving had turned up nothing yet, but Flynn and Cassandra weren't convinced it was a lost cause yet, so a night onboard was the next step. Jacob got seasick when he went below deck, so he was standing on the bow, admiring the night sky. Without the light pollution he'd started to get used to in Portland, there were more stars than he'd ever seen in his life. It was an amazing view.

"You can't sleep, either?" Cassandra asked as she came up and leaned on the railing next to him.

He gave her a little smile. "Get sick down there. Fresh air and clear view makes it better."

"You'll have to sleep _eventually,_ " she teased him, bumping his shoulder.

"Maybe I'll just sleep up here," he tossed back, grinning.

She looked up into the sky. "Incredible how much you can see from here."

He nodded. "I was pickin' out constellations. They're almost harder to spot when there are so many stars. And the view is different than it would be at home this time of year, so I didn't know what I was lookin' for."

"Can you point them out to me?" she asked.

He gave her a bemused look. "You must already know which ones are where."

"Yeah," she admitted, "but I like hearing you talk about them." She looked at him again, smiling gently.

He was flattered. "Cassie…" He straightened up from the railing a bit, stepping closer to her. She was still smiling. God, he was so close he could feel her breath on his face—

"Hey, what're you guys looking at?" Ezekiel asked. Jacob jumped back, his hand coiling into a fist and then settling against the railing with a _thump_.

"You're still up, too?" Cassandra asked.

"Got hungry," Ezekiel answered, holding up a box of crackers in the light from his phone. "Thought I'd come up and listen to the waves while I ate. I like the ocean." He was grinning, and Jacob wasn't convinced the thief didn't know _exactly_ what he'd interrupted.

x

"Thanks for helping me look, Jacob," Cassandra said, slipping her arm into his. "I can't find this book _anywhere_. Jenkins doesn't know, either. It's weird to have something go so missing."

"No problem," he told her as they strolled down the centre aisle of the Library, into its increasingly mazelike stacks. "It is kinda strange. But hopefully with a little teamwork…"

After a few minutes, Cassandra veered left, leading him towards a particular shelf. "This was the next spot I wanted to try," she said, setting up the little folding stool she'd brought with her. "I'll look at the top shelves if you'll try the bottom ones?"

"Sure," he answered with a smile. He began skimming the titles on the lowermost shelf as she stepped up on the stool and started along the top one. He kept one eye on her, just to be sure, which turned out to be a good idea – she leaned over too far and started to wobble.

"Whoop!" she squeaked. Quickly he stepped close to catch her before she could lose her balance completely, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the stool from slipping out from under her. Acting on instinct, he scooped his arms around her waist as she fell toward him, and he let her down to the floor gently.

She let out a sigh of relief, placing her hands on his chest. "Thank you," she said with a sheepish smile.

"You're welcome," Jacob said quietly, loosening his grip on her already, but he couldn't quite tear his eyes off her face. It wasn't the kind of perfect moment he'd been trying for, but then again, they were alone together in what had long been both of their favourite place in the world, and what could have been more fitting?

Hands on her waist, he started to lean in, but a heavy smack on the floor behind her startled them both. Cassandra turned around and saw the book she'd been searching for, having fallen out of the shelf opposite the one they'd been checking. "Oh!" she said happily, leaning down to pick it up. "Thank you, Ray!"

Jacob closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. "Thought you mighta been on my side, here, Ray," he muttered in a low voice.

x

Cassandra sat down next to him again on the bench. "Just got another text from Eve. Jenkins is working on the door. He recommends we stay put."

"I'm all right with that," Jacob said affably. "I can think of worse company than Van Gogh."

The two of them looked at the paintings on the gallery wall across from them. "I did always love his sunflowers," she agreed. "Some of my favourite artwork."

"Yeah?" he asked. "I didn't know that about you."

She gave him a smile. "Mhm! I don't know nearly as much art as you, obviously, but Van Gogh's one of my favourites out of what I do know."

He turned to face her better, grinning. "So who're your other favourites?"

Cassandra lit up. "Well, Monet's probably my _favourite_ favourite," she answered. "His paintings are always so peaceful, they make me feel so at home. Um… I like Matisse's colours. Actually, I like fauvism a lot in general. It's so bright and exciting."

"I always thought fauvism was underappreciated," Jacob agreed readily. He didn't think he'd ever been more in love with her than he was just that moment.

She was looking up as she tried to recall other names. "Umm… I love Gauguin's paintings from Martinique and Tahiti. Oh! And Georges Seurat!" She met his gaze again and saw the enormous grin on his face. "They're all very mainstream artists, I know. Nothing like your favourites, I'm sure," she added shyly.

"No, but I like hearin' you talk about art at all," he told her. "I don't think you've ever brought it up before. I didn't know you had any interest."

"Well, my parents did bring me up to be ' _cultured_ ,' whatever that means," she joked self-consciously. "But even if they hadn't, I don't think I could know you and not have developed at least a _little_ interest."

Jacob didn't think he could handle another moment of this. One arm still along the back of the bench, most of the way around her shoulders, he leaned forward, not even slowly this time, he'd been interrupted too many—

"Ahah! Colonel Baird, it worked!"

Before Jake even had his eyes open again, he heard Cassandra saying, "Jenkins! You did it!" He opened his eyes in time to see her hop up from the bench, looking towards the doorway behind him. She grabbed his hand. "Jacob, come on, let's go show everyone what we found."

He couldn't believe it had happened again. He couldn't _believe_ it. So many chances lost. But he let her pull him up off the bench and back into the Annex.

x

Jacob had never once in his life agonized over a kiss. He'd been kissing girls since he was fourteen – eight, if you counted Sally Deighton back in grade school – but never once had it caused him this much distress. Cassandra was as perfect a woman as he had ever met, and he wanted the perfect moment. He'd never fallen for anyone like he had for her. But far more ridiculous than that, by now, was the number of times he had _failed_. Over and over in the last few months, he had had an opportunity and somehow lost it. He was starting to feel like he was trapped forever in this strange purgatory, doomed always to come unbearably close but never to make contact.

But he adored her too much to do it any other way. He couldn't bring himself to just walk into the room and lay one on her one day. The moment _had_ to be just right.

"Hey, Jacob," Cassandra had started one morning in the Annex. "My cuttings book is sending me to Paris. I know it's one of your favourite cities. Want to come?"

"Yeah," he had answered with a smile. He could hardly say no to her. And, hell, he could hardly say no to Paris.

After dealing with what had turned out to be a pretty straightforward haunting, they decided to spend the evening sightseeing. Jacob had already seen a lot, but Cassandra hadn't had much opportunity to wander Paris yet. He didn't mind going with her to all the standard spots.

They were standing next to L'Arc de Triomphe and watching the sun go down. It was one of those incredibly bright and colourful sunsets, painting the soft clouds in brilliant orange and pink. Cassandra couldn't help cooing over the colours, and Jacob couldn't help smiling as he watched her. When she turned to look at him, her eyes caught on his, and she stopped, smiling broadly. "Jacob…"

Was this it? Was this the moment? She was watching him all wide-eyed and happy, right there in front of him. There were people all around them, but none were their friends, with all their terrible timing. Maybe…

He took a cautious step closer to her to close the gap between their bodies. Nothing stopped him. She was still smiling. So he leaned in.

He was stopped by a finger against his lips.

Jacob opened his eyes and looked at her. She was still smiling. He pulled back slightly, eyebrows knitting in concern and confusion. "Cassie," he said, pained.

Her smile grew. "I just wanted to ask," she said softly, "why you never follow up after we get interrupted."

He stared at her for a moment, baffled. "I just... want it to be amazin'," he said finally, very quietly.

Cassandra's smile grew even further. "Have you been trying for the perfect moment this whole time?" she asked.

He nodded.

She laughed. "Jacob," she told him. "You're such an artist. You could have made any moment perfect just by doing it." Then she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down, kissing him soundly as the sunset faded.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her, completely unwilling to let go now that he finally had her.

It was better than he'd ever imagined.


	10. Taking Hits

From the anonymous prompt, "I can't believe you did that for me, I'd do anything for you."

Sorry this is so late; I'm on reading week but I've been ridiculously busy, somehow. ONE more slightly longer one to finish and then I can move on with my life. There's a lot on my plate at the moment, kids.

Enjoy.

* * *

Cassandra flinched as Jacob gently washed the cut around the outside of her left eye socket. The bruise covered nearly the whole left side of her face by now, and the swelling had really set in around her eye and brow. It pained him to see her like this.

Normally patching up was Jenkins' job, but he had been persuaded to go out into the field and join Eve and Ezekiel. Flynn was elsewhere this time, and they needed someone to replace Cassandra; she'd been in the middle of working something out when they'd been taken by surprise. It was time-sensitive, so Jenkins agreed – a little reluctantly – to take a crack at the problem and let Jacob look after the redhead. It wasn't entirely unfamiliar to Jacob, looking after cuts and bruises and things; everyone knew he'd gotten into more than his fair share of fights well before coming to the Library. But he was used to his own injuries, or once in a while those of his equally rough-and-tumble hometown friends. Looking at Cassandra's face like this was nearly bringing him to tears. She didn't need that, though, so he kept himself together and just tried to be careful while he cleaned her up.

He tossed the cloth back into the metal bowl that sat next to her hip on the edge of Jenkins' desk and ran a hand down his face. "Why would you do that, Cassie?" he had to ask. He'd been trying not to, but it was impossible not to say something.

"For you," she answered softly, as if it should have been obvious. "He was coming at you from behind, Jacob. A weapon that heavy at an angle like that – he could have killed you."

Jacob sighed heavily. "That doesn't mean…" He paused, swallowed, and reached for the ointment Jenkins had left out for him to use. Popping the lid off the tin, he scooped some of the stuff onto a fingertip and began to rub it carefully into her skin. "That's none o' your business, pushin' me outta the way like that," he told her. He hadn't meant to sound angry – he _was_ a little angry, but he didn't see the point in showing it – but it slipped through anyway.

"Bullshit," Cassandra told him, frowning, and then immediately cringing in pain. He met her eyes, surprised by her language. "I have every right to shove you out of the way of a potentially fatal blow, Jacob, don't you dare try to say otherwise," she continued, now a bit irritated herself. "Besides, I didn't think about it. I just did it. It was an instinctive reaction."

"Can't believe you'd do that for me," he muttered, as much to himself as to her. He looked down to scoop more ointment out of the tin, but she reached up to his face and, with two fingers on his chin, directed him to look at her again.

"Why not?" she asked. "Why on earth wouldn't I?"

Frustrated, he set the tin down on the desk next to the bowl, hard. "Dammit Cassandra, you just got your future back," he retorted. "You can't afford to throw it away like that!"

"I knew I'd be fine," she answered derisively. "As long as I got you out of the way and twisted at the right angle he could only get in a glancing blow to my face. Maybe one more to my shoulder before you'd have time to turn around and react; I was right about that, too. Then I just had to roll out of the way. I had faith in you to take care of the rest."

Jacob narrowed his eyes at her. "Thought you said you didn't think about it."

"Not before I moved," she said, shaking her head. "But while I was moving."

Part of him that wasn't worried and angry wondered for the millionth time at the speed with which her brain could work. "You don't belong in the fights. When you get into the fight we end up with a situation like this, where I'm standin' here fixin' up your beat-up face and shoulder, barely a scrape o' my own. Ain't right."

"You're not a Guardian, Jacob," Cassandra said, her hand shifting upwards so she could run a thumb across his cheek before breaking away. "Looking after me isn't your job, and you don't have to take all the hits just because you're a fighter."

"It – it ain't that, Cassie," he told her, momentarily thrown off by her affectionate gesture against his face. "I don't… I hate seein' _you_ get hurt, specifically. I hate the thought of anythin' happenin' to you…" His gaze had shifted to the floor. This time she was gentler about lifting his chin to make him look at her again. He saw the sweet smile on her face, such a stark contrast to the bruising and the swelling and the broken skin, and his heart jumped into his throat. "I'd do anythin' for you, Cassie."

"Oh, Jacob," she sighed, running her thumb across his cheekbone again, more slowly now. "It's mutual, you know." Her hand pressed lightly against his jaw, he let her pull him in and close the gap between them.


End file.
